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The material fused silica, as well as other brittle-hard materials such as glass ceramics, have great potential for use in a wide range of applications due to their special material properties. The technical advantages of these materials require sophisticated processing technologies, including polishing steps, in order to be able to use these interesting materials advantageously. In addition, a current trend in modern optical manufacturing is the use of free-form surfaces and monolithic components that combine several optical and mechanical functions in one part. Novel or improved processes are needed in order to meet future requirements for resource-saving and effective production methods at the same time.

Freeform optics enable completely new solutions in optical design for many different optical applications.Complex optical systems usually need a variety of multiple classic spherical surfaces to fulfill their function. The usage of a freeform surface instead makes it possible to replace some of these spherical surfaces by only one freeform element. Therefore, it is possible to build optical systems that are more compact and lighter than existing ones. However, these new possibilities also lead to new challenges regarding fabrication and assembly of the freeform components. Therefore, an efficient production of such elements needs improvement of existing or development of new manufacturing technologies and process chains. This paper describes a new fabrication approach focused on freeform optics by introducing a process chain consisting of an ultrasonic-assisted grinding process, an ultrafine grinding method using novel resin bond tools and a CO 2 laser polishing process for final surface smoothing.Nowadays, modern high-precision optical systems are applied in a great variety of fields such as medical engineering, automotive engineering, semiconductor and sensor technology, machine and plant construction. The increasing integration of functions into such systems requires, besides optical components, also very complex mechanical, electrical, sensory as well as IT-components. This has led to rising demands on the production development process. The high integration density and complexity of this product group focuses more and more on interdisciplinary cooperation of various experts.The requirements on the optical components are growing in terms of achievable shape and precision, too. Their fabrication is increasingly characterized by the application of aspheric and freeform-optical surfaces. Conventional process chains are not sufficient for these requirements. New continuous process chains, particularly for the fab-

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